As the third hour of Bruce Springsteen’s set came to a close, my girlfriend, Shay, and I exchanged exasperated looks. It seemed hard to believe that I could be more tired than the 63-year-old man who just spent an hour wailing, crowd-surfing and “shredding on his guitar.” THE LIGHTS came on after his exhaustingly long set and people began to file out of the stadium, electrified by his performance. The streets had calmed down as we walked back to our parking space.
We had come for the songs. When I read that he was going to be playing the Sprint Arena in Kansas City, I knew I had to hear “Dancing in the Dark,” “Born to Run,” and “I’m On Fire” for myself. Though I’m not a hardcore fan of The Boss (I didn’t don a sleeveless jean shirt and red bandana, which I now fully regret), I find it hard not to relate to some of his down-to-earth material. We enjoyed sitting in the “nose bleed” section of the arena, singing along to our favorite songs with the inevitable drunken neighbor.
For me, I took something else from the energy Springsteen displayed on stage, something I didn’t expect. After all of the election coverage, international turmoil and dance crazes of our day, I seemed to have become jaded on what it means to be an American. As Shay and I walked into the stadium, picketers marched across the street protesting gay marriage, homeless men and women begged for change, and the skyscrapers rose above us, blanketing what I saw as a big, complicated world. When we took our seats and the lights came on, things seemed less complicated.
Out walks this aging rock star who has built his career around the magic of being a common man. He darted across the stage, high-fiving complete strangers and relishing the connection he shares with the almost 20,000 people that had crowded the auditorium. The people knew his songs, and for good reason. His band, which crowded the stage, fed off of his energy as well. I couldn’t help but sit and reflect on what drives a man like Bruce Springsteen. Sure, some people may say it is the money and the fame. But the romantic in me likes to think that he actually believes what he sings about. As his song, “Dancing in the Dark” says, “they say you gotta stay hungry, and baby I’m just about starving tonight.” I’d say Bruce is still hungry.
The show was filled with his inspirational and stirring one-liners, not to mention some somber moments reflecting on the death of Springsteen’s best friend and probably the most famous saxophone player in our current age, Clarence Clemons.
Both Shay and I commented that the show felt more like an experience than a concert, at least to us.
I’ve had time to reflect on the concert, and this one was different than the numerous others I had been to. It was inspirational to see Bruce Springsteen exploding with enthusiasm after so many years. We are human, but he didn’t seem to be. It’s important to have those American superheroes that can represent the strength that our America does not always have. If anything, we can always trust in Springsteen, still strong at 63 years old.
Why ‘The Boss’ still reigns
